COR Development and QPK DesignThis rendering shows COR Development Co.'s plans for the Inner Harbor at the intersection of West Kirkpatrick and Solar Streets

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The first step toward developing the Syracuse Inner Harbor will be to line up state and federal funding for an environmental cleanup estimated at roughly $12 million to $14 million, the city’s preferred developer told city councilors today.

COR Development Co., the company chosen to develop 28 acres around the harbor, will not take title to the land or solicit financing for its planned $350 million development until it documents the pollution cleanup cost and finds a way to pay for it, company President Steve Aiello said.

“We don’t want to close on anything until we have a model to build it,” Aiello said. “You can’t get the financing until you resolve the environmental.”

To facilitate a search for government cleanup funds, COR hopes to obtain a memorandum of understanding from the Common Council confirming the city’s plan to sell the land to COR. The council is scheduled to vote on the measure Monday.

COR was selected last month to develop the harbor by a five-person committee appointed by Mayor Stephanie Miner. The committee unanimously picked COR after reviewing proposals from three competing firms.

The Fayetteville company plans to build a satellite campus for Onondaga Community College, a hotel and marina, 512 apartments and townhouses, several mixed-use buildings with offices and stores, a community boathouse, restaurants and other amenities.

The project would take five to seven years to complete, said Carlie Hanson, COR’s director of architecture. Aiello promised councilors that COR will use local workers as much as possible.

OCC has been looking to establish a satellite campus for some time, especially to serve its growing population of adult learners, said Amy Kremenek, speaking for the college. The board of trustees issued a letter of interest to COR, but has not taken any further steps, she said. The college would have to get permission from State University of New York officials before it established a new campus, she said.

Before work can start, the city must negotiate a detailed contract with COR spelling out the terms of the sale and the city’s right to reclaim the land if work does not proceed within five years, said Ben Walsh, deputy commissioner for neighborhood and business development.

That contract will take time to hammer out. In the meantime, a memorandum of understanding would document COR’s position enough to let it seek state and federal funding, Walsh said.

COR has hired a Washington, D.C., lobbyist, Robert Hickmott of The Smith-Free Group, to help locate possible sources of cleanup money, Aiello said. Hickmott, who has extensive experience with environmental programs, was a senior advisor to Andrew Cuomo when he was secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

The council will hold a second committee meeting at 10 a.m. Monday to discuss the proposed MOU, prior to the 1 p.m. vote.